HOW TO "GO SOLAR" Research the different types of solar available: Options vary from ambitious setups such as solar photovoltaic (PV) systems to a simple solar fan to cool your attic in summer. Solarsanantonio.org has a thorough list of solar products. • Find an installer: Most installers will come to your home and give a free estimate. Get at least three quotes before making a final decision. • Ask the installer some questions: How many years of experience do they have installing solar PV or thermal? Is the company properly licensed or certified? What type of warranty or guarantee does the installer offer? Who will do the electrical work? Does the company have references you can check out? What operation or maintenance training is available? • Apply for CPS Energy and federal rebates: The solar installer will help with applying for these savings. Based on the latest info available, Solar San Antonio says you can either subtract the rebate from the total cost and take the 30 percent tax credit on the net amount or you can take the 30 percent tax credit on the entire cost and pay taxes on the rebate as income. Ask a tax adviser for the best option. • Secure a solar loan if you can't afford upfront costs: SSA notes that a CPS Energy rebate and federal tax credit can help you get a reasonable-size solar system on your home with payments as low as $70 per month on a solar loan. SSA also notes that the reduction in your energy bill will help substantially to making your loan payments.Source: Solar San Antonio (solarsanantonio.org)

You know that light bulb that fires up every time you get a bright idea? Bill Nye the Science Guy really wants you to fuel that brilliance with solar energy.

OK, maybe not the metaphorical bulb above your noggin but certainly the kitchen light and other electric-powered items around the house. Nye thinks they could all do with a sun-powered assist. And he wishes more of us, well, got the idea.

Nye will share such illuminating thoughts Thursday at a special Solar San Antonio luncheon. The event at Pearl Stable honors SSA's founder and chairman Bill Sinkin, who celebrates his 98th birthday Thursday and, like Nye, really likes bow ties.

Perky neckwear aside, Nye is best known for his 1990s award-winning series Bill Nye the Science Guy, which has educated and entertained kids of all ages with the myriad wonders of science. These days, Nye still dabbles in so many things science, from fueling interest in the cosmos as executive director of the Planetary Society to powering his home with 4,000 watts of solar power and a solar hot-water system.

We asked everyone's favorite Science Guy to shed some light on solar energy and other bright spots in his long science-friendly career.

Q: Solar power has been around for ages. What's the latest advancement or development that has you most excited?

A: This is a science problem. We're probably going to need some diligence and material science and some diligence in manufacturing engineering to do this. But there's great promise with these nano-dots and nano-tubes, stuff where you dig a single photon and drive a single electron at some usable voltage. It could really change the world.

Q: San Antonio and South Texas suffer brutal heat waves in summer. How can solar power help us air-conditioning-loving folks without putting too much heat on our wallets, so to speak?

A: The idea is you collect sunlight and make electricity to drive your air conditioner. And it sounds trivial, but I'm telling you, if you replace your windows and you help consumers replace their windows, you save enormous amounts of energy. It makes people mad, but I'm sorry. You could save 30 percent of your energy by (the expression is) weatherizing your home. Some people get 50 percent. And what you've got to remember is you save coming and going. That is to say, you save energy when it's cold out … but you also save tremendous amounts of energy when you're cooling and it's hot out.

The trouble with replacing all your windows is that it is not cheap. But if we subsidized it, against antigovernment people's wishes, you would all come out ahead, everybody would come out ahead. That's the claim.

Q: That segues into my next question. A big criticism of going solar is the cost of setting up and maintaining a system for your home, how those expenses might eat into or even erase any savings they're meant to offer. What are your thoughts on that?

A: When I run the numbers, I get a different answer. My house system will pay for itself in seven years, maybe more like six-and-a-half years. And after that, my electricity is free. But bear in mind that it's added value to my house. (Nye figures a solar system costs less than the first car of a two-car household.)

It's like a swimming pool. There are some buyers who just want nothing to do with a swimming pool. … But there're other people that just love pools, that just can't wait to get a pool. A pool is the coolest thing ever, they're not going to buy a house unless it has a pool.

I submit that the same is true of an energy-efficient home buyer. When somebody finds out you have solar panels and my electric bill is $10 a month - it used to be $7 but The Man changed the rate to 10 bucks a month in L.A. - that is an aesthetic. That is a wonderful, happy thing. You don't worry about your electricity bill. It's less than what you spend at Starbucks, much less. So it's just a different way of looking at the value and a different way of looking at your quality of life.

Q: Switching gears to the birthday boy. Bill Sinkin plays a big part in San Antonio history, what with being the first president of HemisFair '68, let alone founding Solar San Antonio in 1999. What are your thoughts on his many accomplishments?

A: He's a great guy. And it shows you that this is not really a new idea. This idea doesn't belong to a social class that is outside of the mainstream. This is a mainstream guy who sees the value in solar power.

Q: Speaking of history, for a Science Guy who knows his technology, you seem to have a love of decidedly low-tech gadgetry like bicycles and sundials. Tell us about that.

A: Well, a bicycle is "low-tech" in a sense. I mean, I have a bicycle made of the state-of-the-art materials. Carbon fiber tubes put together with some sort of adhesive process that is proprietary. … Furthermore, I have carbon fiber cranks attached somehow to a very hard aluminum chain ring - stuff that if you showed the Wright brothers, they would have been astonished. You can't drill a hole in it, it's so tough. Yet it's aluminum. So the word "low-tech," let me just say, I do like bicycles. They're elegant, beautiful things.

And so are sundials. Yes, you can keep time to a higher degree of precision with a modern clock, but you absolutely would not have modern clocks without sundials. The other thing we always remind people about a sundial is you can learn about the Earth's orbit, you can discover what I call our place in space, with a sundial (whereas) it's much more difficult to do with a clock or a watch.

Q: On a much lighter note, like you, I've noticed that Sinkin has quite the penchant for bow ties. Just how many bow ties do you actually own?

A: I don't know. But I'll tell you what: I'll try to count them before (Thursday). There're certainly more than 150. There might be more than 200. And they're not hidden. They hang on the wall in my bedroom. They're not in the closet. They're right there where you can see them, because they're kind of cool-looking when you have that many of them.